Spirits of Earth
by Spitfire123
Summary: When a new Avatar who hasn't learned to bend properly is pitted against the toughest opponents, how will she survive? She might have her past lives to help, but will it be enough? Or will her enemies finally succeed in throwing the world out of balance, with no hope of restoring it?
1. Chapter 1

_Four elements. Four disciplines. Four ways of life._

Like the seasons, the cycle continues onward, restoring and keeping balance in an ever-changing world.

I am the bridge between the spirit world and the human world. I am the scale in which good and evil are weighed.

For years, I have known this day was coming. It has loomed in the distance for far too long, and it is time for me to face it head on, with my head held high, shoulders squared. Embrace it, for I will be reborn once again, and I will learn the elements, and keep balance in the world. I will be one of the many spirits inhabiting one body.

_One being._

I smile, because I know that this is my destiny. The new Avatar will fulfill their place as the cosmic protector of the universe.

As soon as I let go.

But I can't. Not with him gazing upon me with those eyes, his gray hair and his wrinkled face. Him squeezing my hand, him begging me not to leave.

I blink, but in a second, it's all over. Everything has changed. I am not longer in a medical house of the Southern Water Tribe, but in the spirit world.

"Welcome Avatar Korra." I turn, finding my previous lives bowing down in their respective ways.

I bow as well. My joints don't hurt as I stand straight to face them.

"Thank you for welcoming me, masters."

* * *

It is not long after my death that the Avatar temples begin to glow with the arrival of the next one. The next being that will keep balance in the world. She is healthy, a baby girl born to a non-bending family in Gaoling. They named her Wen, gave her only the finest clothes, toys, and other things that most families wouldn't be able to afford.

Many of the air nomads shunned her frivolity, and turned their backs upon her. This caused strife among the masters, but many chose to ignore it to focus on their own pursuits.

Her focuses was not on mastering the elements, or even on bending, but instead on the stories and studies of spirits. For many years, I was not sure we had the right child, until one day, while she was sick in bed, one of her sneezes produced a blue flame that caught the bedpost on fire. She panicked and bent the water in the bowl on her bedside to extinguish the flames.

But it was in her delusion that she acted, and when her sickness began to fade, memories of the act began to fade with it. The bed incident was forgotten, and her priorities continued to be on the study of the spirit world.

This Avatar is different from the others. She does not live in a world where benders are as significant as they used to be. Bending is merely a way to connect with people and ancestors now, and since Wen has no bending ancestors, she has no reason to bend.

I am thinking the situation over now, praying that this Avatar will understand soon, and that the world will stay in balance until she does.

"I think it's time to pay her a visit, don't you?" Aang says, and I look up from my seated position as I nod.

"Yes, Aang, I believe it is."

* * *

**A/N: well, this is my first avatar fanfic so.. be gentle? review? fav? follow? something? Criticism is welcomed.**


	2. Chapter 2

As spirits, the former avatars are not permitted to cross over into the human world. As spirits, the spirit realm is our home now, but we can still communicate with Wen. We just need to find her dreams, connect with her, and then we shall point her in the right path.

The two of us pass by shops and stands through the marketplace when Aang turns to me with a slight smile on his face. "It's a couple years since I've been here."

"You've been dead for over one hundred years."

"Yes, but I still come here. This was the town Toph grew up in." Aang barely dodged a Sato-mobile (not that he needed to, seeing as he is in the spirit world) as it rushed past. Aang frowned softly. "It's changed a lot."

"Yeah, well, the world changes Aang. It's always something different whenever we are reborn." I squint, looking past the crowded faces until I spot the girl. The hidden avatar.

I elbow past Aang as I sprint towards her, watching Wen disappear into an alleyway between two shop stands. Aang and I follow her, dipping into the darkened alley without trouble. Everything just slips through you in the spirit world.

But when we both turn the corner, Wen is nowhere to be found. The alley is dark and unused with no hint of where she had wandered off to.

"Damn." I mutter, but Aang seems to hear me.

"Korra, watch your tongue!"

* * *

"We are the White Lotus!" The leader of the White Lotus, Sol, exclaimed. "We should have been able to find the new Avatar by now! _It's been thirteen years_! He or she is out there somewhere!" Sol turned to her second-in-command, a passive brunet by the name of Kim. "You go out and scour the Earth continent again. I don't care how you do it, but get the Avatar here." Kim nodded as Sol turned to the two newest recruits that she, for the life of her, couldn't remember their names. "You two go with her." Sol watched with contempt as the two saluted her and left with Kim.

"I hate new recruits." Sol collapsed back into her chair, brushing the stray black hair from her amber eyes. "So, what other Avatar imposters have we got today?" Sol swiveled in her chair a bit, awaiting a response from the rest of her task force, but none came. Instead, there was a deathly silence.

Sol growled, barking out the same question as she glared at her intel manager, hardly waiting for a response before storming towards the poor man. He held up a sheet of paper, showing Sol the insignia that was plastered upon it. She took a step back in shock before reaching out and grabbing the paper with fierce and shaking hands.

"This… this can't be." Her voice cracked with surprise and unrelenting hostility. "When did you get this?"

"I just saw it, ma'am." The recruit spoke, wincing at his superior's tone. "It was masquerading as an intel report."

"Shit." Sol cursed, balling up the paper with ferocity. "They're back… after two hundred years of banishment, they're back."

* * *

Wen ran. She ran until her lungs gasped for air and her chest seized up. It was that horrible being her parents told stories about. The thing was chasing her. It would not leave.

It was a bully, it used it's powers for evil. It was no longer the protector of the human realm, but a monster of the spirit realm.

The Avatar was back.

She hated the Avatar for throwing down the Equalist revolution in republic city, the only chance non-benders had in the world. Her family's hatred of the Avatar had been passed down for generations and generations until she came, indulging and reveling in the hatred that was forced upon her.

But she was soon about to find out one very interesting fact: self-hatred is never good.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you Captain Kathryn Janeway98 (Mah bestie!) and Bolinlover123 for reviewing! And yes, Wen is an 'earthbender' avatar, but, y'know, she hasn't learned to bend yet soo.. and remember, criticism is always welcome!**


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